Here comes the apology!

Yesterday, Oct. 6, 2010 more than 50 oil tankers headed for U.S and Nato forces were torched by TTP (Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan. Atleast two dozen men opened fire on the tankers that had been detained parked alongside the road at a place in southeast peshawar.

Not only were the supplies burnt but they were also looted and ended up for sale in peshawar market. 

Pakistan is the only land route that America has to take in order to get its supplies to its forces in Afghanistan. The reason being to the left of Afghanistan is Iran and obviously America cant come in through Iran with the current levels of understanding between them. On the top of Afghanistan is Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and Tajikistan, which again is not possible because those countries are land locked and the majority of the population is an all three countries on top is muslims who unlike Pakistani muslims do not tolerate foreigners to use their lands to fight other muslims.

Considering that the only other option that america has is to go through air, and airlifting supplies of a 150,000 strong army is not the most economical and pragmatic option. The best alternative is to go through the Arabian Sea, karachi then all the way through pakistan to the khyber pass and then into Afghanistan.

Ignoring all this, Nato forces crossed into Pakistan on thursday 30th september 2010 and opened fire on the Pakistani border forces killing 3 pakistani soldiers. The U.S. helicopters crossed some 200 meters into Pakistani airspace and shot first at pakistani soldiers, who in turn fired rifle shots only to indicate that they had crossed into pakistani territory.

However, it was too late, the helicopters fired missiles and destroyed the outpost killing three and wounding another three. To "ease" the tension of the incident US marine corps colonel David Lapan appeared in the scene to state; 

"Even the statement that Pakistanis put out indicated that their forces used rifle fire at the helicopters as a warning. And, well, if you fire at a helicopter in a COMBAT ZONE, they'll usually take that as hostile and return fire."

The interesting thing to notice in the above statement is that Colonel David mentions a territory some well 200m inside pakistani airspace as a "COMBAT ZONE". Helicopters equipped with 

latest of gobal positioning systems within an accuracy range of a few feet this is out of the question that it was a mistake to have flown inside pakistani borders and not known so.

Then on 6 Oct, 2010 after a week of the incident U.S. finally realised the blunder it had made. First by attacking the pakistani border and then the subsequent failure to apologize, instead issuing a statement that it was all a mistake, a misunderstanding and it is not an attack on pakistan, which the pakistani media is portraying, infact, it was hot-pursuit of the taliban insurgents that ended up in some 200 meters inside Pakistan.

So it was high time to apologize. And then it came!

US Embassy's public affairs section said "Ambassador Anne W. Patterson today extended an apology to Pakistan on behalf of the american people for the terrible accident on sept. 30th."

And this wasnt the only apology,

A seperate statement issued by ISAF headquarter in Kabul read "We deeply regret this tragic loss of life"

Had this apology come a little earlier the Nato and U.S. the 50 oil tankers, army supplies could have been saved and would not have ended up in a market in peshawar to be misused yet again.

Is Pakistan next on the hitlist of America after Iraq and Afghanistan?

Well, whatever it is, America testing war in a country that is the ONLY pragmatic supply route, has NUCLEAR WEAPONS, a government albeit weak(which is a lethal combination to say the least for it makes the situation ever more dangerous and a threat to the world at large), its own army, population more than half of america's population, it just might be the biggest blunder america has ever made.